Memorable New Year's for Mangawhai intruders

The Mangawhai community has experienced an outbreak of "Goldilocks Syndrome" this week.

Tired revellers from the Northern Bass Festival, halfway between Kaiwaka and Mangawhai, have fallen asleep in random locations.

Mangawhai fishing charter skipper Gordon Pryor awoke at dawn on Saturday to find a young stranger settling in for a sleep on his couch.

And Andre Best posted a photograph on Mangawhai Locals Facebook page of two people asleep in a tangle in the back of his ute on his Mangawhai property on New Year's Eve.

Turns out all three lost revellers hailed from the festival in Settlement Rd, about 10km out of Mangawhai, off the Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Rd.

Gordon Pryor was well within his rights to call the police as the couch surfer had entered his house without permission.

But Pryor decided the risk was minimal and let him sleep, albeit after taking photos and posting them on the Mangawhai Locals Facebook page, asking people if they knew who the sleeping intruder was.

Eventually the man awoke and sat down with Mr Pryor over a cup of coffee for a chat.

He thought he had been on a shuttle bus headed for Waipu but somehow ended up in Mangawhai. The rest is blurry history.

Having once found a stranger sleeping in my car, I can attest that it is an odd experience.

The person awoke as I was standing outside the vehicle contemplating my options.

On seeing me, he was clearly confused, and very apologetic.

Turns out he had been in town partying, and walked to what he thought was a mate's place.

After a brief conversation, I drove him up the road to the mate's place, and never saw him again.

That was pre-social media.

It will be a long time before Gordon Pryor forgets his sleeping intruder, or indeed all three Mangawhai 'intruders" forget their New Year and the hospitality afforded to them by friendly Northland locals.

Happy 2018.